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As the need grew, so did the facility and the support of
the community. The unprecedented growth of the hospital
was punctuated in 1923 when Board President, Francis
R. Strawbridge, launched a successful 10-day campaign
to raise $1 million to rebuild the hospital. Strawbridge
was the well-known owner/operator of Philadelphia’s
famed Strawbridge & Clothier department store and a
Germantown resident.
“My grandfather was on the board, of what was then
called Greater Germantown Dispensary and Hospital, for
50 years,” recalls Francis R. Strawbridge III. “The hospital
and my family became intertwined from the moment my
grandfather became involved.”
It was families like the Strawbridges who recognized the
significant purpose served by community hospitals. They
dedicated great personal effort toward ensuring the viability
of these facilities. Francis R. Strawbridge and his wife,
Anna Estes Strawbridge, worked tirelessly on behalf of
Germantown Hospital.
For Strawbridge, Germantown Hospital figures prominently
in his childhood memories. “I remember, as a young
child, going to my grandparents’ house on Schoolhouse
Lane for Sunday dinner. Mid-way thought the meal, my
grandfather would get up and leave for the hospital to walk
the floors and be with the patients and their families,” recalls
Strawbridge.
These were more than just gestures on the part of the
Strawbridge family. Through Francis Sr. and Anna, a
Strawbridge family legacy was launched involving them in
all aspects of hospital operations, from administration to
volunteering and auxiliary fundraisers.
“Germantown was a hospital of ‘firsts’ for the City of
Philadelphia,” explains Hugh J. Maher, former President of
Germantown Hospital. “We had the first intensive care unit
in Philly and the first cardiac care unit. The Cardiac Care
Unit, opened in 1967, exceeded all expectations for patient
utilization. It helped us become one of Philadelphia’s most
preeminent community health care institutions.”
Other firsts were patient care amenities including being the
first totally carpeted hospital and the first hospital “tower”
with all private patient rooms, which, according to Maher,
started a trend of such towers across the country. All of
these accomplishments occurred under the watchful and
supportive eye of the Strawbridge family.
“The hospital and my family became INTERTWINED from the
MOMENT my grandfather became involved.”
– Francis R. Strawbridge, III
Above: A view of Germantown Hospital and Dispensary c. 1900. Sharing a common commitment to the community, Germantown joined
Einstein Healthcare Network in 1997.
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